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[AwesomeSauce]

FML

I had to re-install Windows due to some new hardware so i saved my Witcher 2 saves on a flash drive that i for the life of me cannot find.

Can someone post a save from early ch2 Roche's path, also if it does anything i gave Triss the petal and have been nice to her if that changes anything, so i would like a save that kind of continues what i've done so far.

I've only done a few quests on ch2 like:

Little Sisters
Rotfiend one
helping the kid fight the butcher dude

If anyone has a save from around there on Normal difficulty can share it with me?

Thanks.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Yeah, it looks like it will show up after the weekend probably, which is fine because I slacked off on finishing my TW1 replay so I'd have a fresh save file. I'll probably stick with sign upgrades for my first run like I'm doing in TW1 right now so I'll have fresh context to compare how they balanced stuff this time around. I'm guessing at the very least they made Igni less of a catch-all "kill everything" button?

Igni and Aard both changing to a targeted effect which you can talent to be AE does help balance it, but with a signs (mage tree) build the best approach for groups is usually to herd them into a group and slam out a bunch of Ignis so they all take splash damage. The damage generates adrenaline which you can use to pop a bullet-time bubble up once you get enough, then you start slashing away until you get enough vigor for more Igni spam which fills the bar... you get the idea. It's a lot more exciting than the first game, and I say that as someone who really enjoys the combat in The Witcher.

The good thing is that every tree has a Heliotrope effect at the end, so to get the most out of your build you have to focus. It's a bit of a shame that you can't go anywhere near as hybrid as you can in the first game but having an almost infinite number of builds possible just means that you have a lot of crappy builds available.

 

[Van Buren]

Agree on the tree suggestion, the main problem with difficulty is how much of a badass Geralt is by about chapter 2.

Honestly, this imbalance phenomenon occurs far too often in most WRPGs. Baldur's gate 1 started with your party running away from a solitary Ogre, but towards the middle of the series, the party gets powerful enough to take down demi-gods without a thought. Same thing with the Black Isle Fallouts after getting Power Armor and leveling a solitary combat skill a few times.

Unfortunately, only stuff like KoTC or Demon's souls has been challenging throughout in recent times.

I'm not excusing the relative easiness of the second half of Witcher 2 though - I just expect some fan mods to pump up the difficulty to levels that are enjoyed by a niche. Witcher 1's full combat rebalance mod is an example.

 

[Wallach]

Honestly, this imbalance phenomenon occurs far too often in most WRPGs. Baldur's gate 1 started with your party running away from a solitary Ogre, but towards the middle of the series, the party gets powerful enough to take down demi-gods without a thought. Same thing with the Black Isle Fallouts after getting Power Armor and leveling a solitary combat skill a few times.

Unfortunately, only stuff like KoTC or Demon's souls has been challenging throughout in recent times.

It does, but I feel like it is more understandable when it happens in a really open-world title more than a linear, structured path title. That's why it annoys me more in The Witcher than it does something like the Fallout games.

 

[VisanidethDM]

It does, but I feel like it is more understandable when it happens in a really open-world title more than a linear, structured path title. That's why it annoys me more in The Witcher than it does something like the Fallout games.

I agree, but at least TW2 pulls it off with (somewhat) competent gameplay. I find it much, much more annoying in most eastern Europe WPRGs that play like ass and have basically zero thrills by the time you've left the first quest hub.

And then there's the horrible "scale-with-you" open world games.

The number of WRPGs that get scaling right is tiny. TW2 isn't a particularly bad offender.

 

[Van Buren]

It does, but I feel like it is more understandable when it happens in a really open-world title more than a linear, structured path title. That's why it annoys me more in The Witcher than it does something like the Fallout games.

Sign of the times, I guess. Difficulty levels in WRPGs have fallen across the board, with only niche entries like KotC and the Age of Decadence demo providing any sort of real challenge in recent times.

Even Witcher 2's touted difficulty has to be taken with a grain of salt. Relative to other recent WRPGs with their accessibility first mantra, it can seem unforgiving, but compared to the WRPGs in the late eighties and early nineties, it's a walk in the park. It's certainly not a game you play for challenging combat throughout, even on Hard difficulty.

 

[VisanidethDM]

Sign of the times, I guess. Difficulty levels in WRPGs have fallen across the board, with only niche entries like KotC and the Age of Decadence demo providing any sort of real challenge in recent times.

Even Witcher 2's touted difficulty has to be taken with a grain of salt. Relative to other recent WRPGs with their accessibility first mantra, it can seem unforgiving, but compared to the WRPGs in the late eighties and early nineties, it's a walk in the park. It's certainly not a game you play for challenging combat throughout, even on Hard difficulty.

Yeah, and in general, you're fighting the system more than the enemies. It's really an action game at heart, and stuff like spammable bombs and kiting for cooldowns are hardly beneficial to the game's challenges.
It's not a thinking man's RPG, for sure. But do those exist anymore? Aside from Tactics Ogre etc.

 

[HooYaH]

Im doing the Iorveth path in Chapter 1 on my 2nd run through and I have a question.

Spoiler

What do I do with Margot's letter to Iorveth? Tried to talk to the elf, but there are no dialog for it. Bug?

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Sign of the times, I guess. Difficulty levels in WRPGs have fallen across the board, with only niche entries like KotC and the Age of Decadence demo providing any sort of real challenge in recent times.

Even Witcher 2's touted difficulty has to be taken with a grain of salt. Relative to other recent WRPGs with their accessibility first mantra, it can seem unforgiving, but compared to the WRPGs in the late eighties and early nineties, it's a walk in the park. It's certainly not a game you play for challenging combat throughout, even on Hard difficulty.

Sad but true. It's got the fun-factor for sure, but there are only a handful of places where it presents a substantial challenge once you're familiar with the mechanics.

Im doing the Iorveth path in Chapter 1 on my 2nd run through and I have a question.

Spoiler

What do I do with Margot's letter to Iorveth? Tried to talk to the elf, but there are no dialog for it. Bug?

Hmm I just checked the game guide since I couldn't remember that but I didn't find it. What's the name of the quest?

 

[Wallach]

Sign of the times, I guess. Difficulty levels in WRPGs have fallen across the board, with only niche entries like KotC and the Age of Decadence demo providing any sort of real challenge in recent times.

Even Witcher 2's touted difficulty has to be taken with a grain of salt. Relative to other recent WRPGs with their accessibility first mantra, it can seem unforgiving, but compared to the WRPGs in the late eighties and early nineties, it's a walk in the park. It's certainly not a game you play for challenging combat throughout, even on Hard difficulty.

I'd definitely agree with that, though I think in many cases it is a conscious decision in regards to overall difficulty. Not something I even necessarily consider a downside in a lot of cases.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

Getting desperate here for a save.

So does anyone have a save near the end of chapter 1, start of the Rose of remembrance quest?

 

[Solo]

Goddamn patches on Steam.

 

[Kyaw]

Getting desperate here for a save.

So does anyone have a save near the end of chapter 1, start of the Rose of remembrance quest?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17768374/AutoSave_0088.sav

This should be it i think.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17768374/AutoSave_0088.sav

This should be it i think.

Thanks a lot Kyaw!

Just when i thought i was being ignored lol.

Really appreciate it

Just checked out the save and man o man did i miss a lot of quests when i was still in ch1 lol.

 

[subversus]

a pre-release interview with one of the lead developers - Łukasz Szczepankowski

http://avegamers.com/blog/special/zapozdaloe-intervyu-s-prezentatsii-vedmaka-2

for those of you who can't stand google translate

-they think about adding horse riding as DLC
-the last few months were "death march" crunch. People slept at the office, Lukasz was in doubt if he should stay in gaming.
-a lot of people on the team are former architectors, historian, archaelogists or people with such education. All things and locations in the game are designed to be realistic and useful.
-the combat was done by the designer who did combat for TW1
-Lukasz's favourite game is Baldur's Gate II. He likes Mass Effect series and apparently hated Dragon Age II.
-Sapkowsky was actively participating during TW1 development but stayed hands-off this time. He's described as "a complicate man"
-a lot of people at CD Project prefered to play with a gamepad during the development
-they started making the game before the editor was ready and as you might think it was really hard

 

[jgminto]

The Witcher 2 Zero Punctuation

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Haha at horse-riding DLC. I always wondered why there are no horses in the world of The Witcher. At the end of the first game there is a painted screen of Geralt leading a horse along by the reins, and I gasped at it because it was the only horse I'd seen in the entire game.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Just finished my first playthrough. 58.3 hours. Amazing game. However, I'm a bit disappointed in how

Spoiler

the plot was steamrolled half-way through the third chapter. They just dump everything on you immediately.

 

[mjemirzian]

I've completed a playthrough on Hard. Combat feels hard to control with the autotargeting and not being able to choose exactly which sword attack you want Geralt to do. It's tedious having to access the radial menu for spells, with only one key for 'next sign'. It feels like yet another PC game designed for consoles with inferior targeting and controls.

Fights are generally low on strategy due to simplistic enemies and the Quen shield. A large majority of fights in the game are weak grunts and monsters with little variety between them. It's annoying that Geralt's ineffectiveness at melee combat is due to autotargeting and inability to reliably control his sword attacks, rather than the enemies being particularly dangerous or intelligent. The shield seems to be a big band-aid on all of those issues, granting Geralt superarmor and an infinite source of damage absorption, as well as damage reflection when upgraded.

Finally, there's too much boring running around between quests and backtracking. Quick travel points between visited locations would be nice. It's an average WRPG with plenty of rough edges. Playable, if sometimes irritating.

 

[Varna]

The Witcher 2 Zero Punctuation

Love this guys videos.

Lots of questionable things mentioned though.

You can skip the Kayran intro.
You can dodge in any direction.
There are a million ways to deal with multiple enemies.

Your are definitely 100% right with Geralt being needlessly hard to control mjemirzian. I love this game so much it just pisses me off that they made some really poor choices in regards to the combat. And all I keep thinking about are the little tweaks that could have made much better.

Standard fast and heavy attacks only. None of those long multi hit attacks that get you surrounded.

Long distance attacks must be activated manually. This could be by just holding in the direction of enemy and attacking (or maybe some combination with the roll button).

There is a special bar that is just pointless and underused. How about you give it some use. Get rid of the 1-hit finishers and have adrenaline activate area attacks and other multi hit attacks.

Stamina bar please. Spamming heavy attacks and rolling is to damn effective.

Nerf the shield spell (some mods do this already).

 

[Shawsie64]

Im having a problem... I acquired 2 levels but can select anything off the talent web/tree... Just click on them and nothing happens, is this a bug?

 

[Echoplx]

Read this comment on the 360 version preview at Gamespot

Hopefully there is more to the game than just great graphics. I hope there is some level of depth to the game.

fucking lol

 

[Snuggles]

the level of depth is probably chapter two

hopefully johnny gamestop can last that long

 

[mileS]

I've completed a playthrough on Hard. Combat feels hard to control with the autotargeting and not being able to choose exactly which sword attack you want Geralt to do. It's tedious having to access the radial menu for spells, with only one key for 'next sign'. It feels like yet another PC game designed for consoles with inferior targeting and controls.

Fights are generally low on strategy due to simplistic enemies and the Quen shield. A large majority of fights in the game are weak grunts and monsters with little variety between them. It's annoying that Geralt's ineffectiveness at melee combat is due to autotargeting and inability to reliably control his sword attacks, rather than the enemies being particularly dangerous or intelligent. The shield seems to be a big band-aid on all of those issues, granting Geralt superarmor and an infinite source of damage absorption, as well as damage reflection when upgraded.

Finally, there's too much boring running around between quests and backtracking. Quick travel points between visited locations would be nice. It's an average WRPG with plenty of rough edges. Playable, if sometimes irritating.

The only attack you can't reliably count on is the jump/roll forward attack from longer distances. You're obviously confusing the different animations for light and heavy attack as "not being able to choose exactly which sword attack you want Geralt to do". That or you just wanted one single animation for light attack and one for heavy.

You can assign the different spells to ANY key you want. Something you overlooked but instead you come here saying "It's tedious having to access the radial menu". I think the way you're describing the Quen shield as a "band-aid" doesn't make sense, but really I should have stopped reading after "It feels like yet another PC game designed for consoles with inferior targeting and controls".

 

[DualShadow]

Im having a problem... I acquired 2 levels but can select anything off the talent web/tree... Just click on them and nothing happens, is this a bug?

If you're playing on Hard you need to Meditate first then choose the character screen mate.

 

[toastyToast]

Im having a problem... I acquired 2 levels but can select anything off the talent web/tree... Just click on them and nothing happens, is this a bug?

You have to be in meditation mode to level up on hard or above. I think I could just use C on normal but I can't remember. Either way meditation mode works.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Nah I think he means that the trees are all still locked. Only the Witcher tree (top) is unlocked until you get to level 7 when the rest open up.

As for the ZP review, my only major criticism of it was that I think he was trying too hard to troll people. He knew it too, the line at the end of the credits was "LEAVE IT, HE'S NOT WORTH IT".

 

[Shawsie64]

If you're playing on Hard you need to Meditate first then choose the character screen mate.

Ahhh thanks man Explains it haha

 

[Riposte]

Love this guys videos.

Lots of questionable things mentioned though.

You can skip the Kayran intro.
You can dodge in any direction.
There are a million ways to deal with multiple enemies.

Your are definitely 100% right with Geralt being needlessly hard to control mjemirzian. I love this game so much it just pisses me off that they made some really poor choices in regards to the combat. And all I keep thinking about are the little tweaks that could have made much better.

Standard fast and heavy attacks only. None of those long multi hit attacks that get you surrounded.

Long distance attacks must be activated manually. This could be by just holding in the direction of enemy and attacking (or maybe some combination with the roll button).

There is a special bar that is just pointless and underused. How about you give it some use. Get rid of the 1-hit finishers and have adrenaline activate area attacks and other multi hit attacks.

Stamina bar please. Spamming heavy attacks and rolling is to damn effective.

Nerf the shield spell (some mods do this already).

For a sequel I also want deeper parry/blocking mechanics. No so much counter attacks, but being able to throw enemies and their attacks at each other and setting up better attack positions.

Another thing they could do is break up the inventory weight so you can carry only a certain amount of tools(no more 22 snares to one shot enemies), but ingredients and whatnot remains as or less restricted than it is now.

EDIT: Also there should be more significant reasons to mix up light and heavy. Combos which do more than damage are really cool(because then there are more "optimal" set ups). Imagine certain set ups to break guards(with tells based on enemy animation). Or how about if you can give your attacks certain AoE properties for crowd control by switching between the two. light -> heavy pauses enemies a little(no AoE damage), while heavy -> light could do more AoE damage. Stuff like that.

EDIT: Also also, activating spells and bombs mid-combo should have a unique effect. Aard should blow away all enemies, but the guy you are currently attack for example. Could give a lot more room for growth on the magic and alchemy side of things.

Basically, I want a kick ass combo system lol.


EDIT: Yahtzee isn't good at videogames and is very lazy to actually learn anything. To me he is pretty useless, being good at videogames and learning how to be good at videogames is where the sweet stuff is at.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

For a sequel I also want deeper parry/blocking mechanics. No so much counter attacks, but being able to throw enemies and their attacks at each other and setting up better attack positions.

Another thing they could do is break up the inventory weight so you can carry only a certain amount of tools(no more 22 snares to one shot enemies), but every remains as or less restricted than it is now.

It would be deeply unpopular but I'm coming around to the point of view that they should have kept it like the first game where a lot of items can only be put in certain slots, so you can't walk around with 20 swords on you just because you haven't hit the weight limit yet.

 

[Yurt]

The Witcher 2 Zero Punctuation

I stopped watching the video after he complained about Geralt not being able to block all the time.

Uhm...check your Vigor maybe ? OR update ?

 

[Vaporak]

I've completed a playthrough on Hard. Combat feels hard to control with the autotargeting and not being able to choose exactly which sword attack you want Geralt to do. It's tedious having to access the radial menu for spells, with only one key for 'next sign'. It feels like yet another PC game designed for consoles with inferior targeting and controls.

Fights are generally low on strategy due to simplistic enemies and the Quen shield. A large majority of fights in the game are weak grunts and monsters with little variety between them. It's annoying that Geralt's ineffectiveness at melee combat is due to autotargeting and inability to reliably control his sword attacks, rather than the enemies being particularly dangerous or intelligent. The shield seems to be a big band-aid on all of those issues, granting Geralt superarmor and an infinite source of damage absorption, as well as damage reflection when upgraded.

Finally, there's too much boring running around between quests and backtracking. Quick travel points between visited locations would be nice. It's an average WRPG with plenty of rough edges. Playable, if sometimes irritating.

I played a spellcasting build and honestly Quen just isn't that good. It makes the combat more forgiving because it lets you make mistakes, but if you just don't then it's kinda useless and your vigor is better spent elsewhere.

 

[mjemirzian]

The only attack you can't reliably count on is the jump/roll forward attack from longer distances. You're obviously confusing the different animations for light and heavy attack as "not being able to choose exactly which sword attack you want Geralt to do". That or you just wanted one single animation for light attack and one for heavy.

You can assign the different spells to ANY key you want. Something you overlooked but instead you come here saying "It's tedious having to access the radial menu". I think the way you're describing the Quen shield as a "band-aid" doesn't make sense, but really I should have stopped reading after "It feels like yet another PC game designed for consoles with inferior targeting and controls".

When you hit left or right click at close range he'll make attacks at random, sometimes whiffing or being too slow even when another one of his attacks would have hit or been fast enough to land. Most action games allow you to precisely control your attacks with a branching tree system or being able to select any attack at any time, but not this one. And his lunge attack is incredibly annoying due to sticky autotargeting causing him to leap at an unintended target then getting surrounded and pummeled.

You can assign hotkeys to cast spells, not select them - there's only one keybind to select a spell and that's 'next sign'. Also, you couldn't assign keybinds to any key until 1.2. I am not overlooking anything. Figures there'd be a fanboy making an ass of himself within minutes of my post, though.

 

[C2Q]

Couple of things.

Why do i die so ridiculously fast. I'm playing on normal and im lvl 7 currently. In the middle of the karyan quest and these drowners or whatever kill me in like 3 hits. It doesn't help that theres 4 or 5 of them at once and I can only block 3 times (3 vigor slots). Wtf is this?

Also what are good ways of making money and where can i get better weapons and items that can help me survive longer.

Also do you get any other spells later? I only have 6 signs at my disposal the ones from the start.

 

[mjemirzian]

I played a spellcasting build and honestly Quen just isn't that good. It makes the combat more forgiving because it lets you make mistakes, but if you just don't then it's kinda useless and your vigor is better spent elsewhere.

Hard to 'make mistakes' when you've got a fully upgraded caster build that lets you kill almost everything by kiting and attacking at range or laying spells on the ground.

 

[Varna]

My only hope for the combat is that CD Projekt RED fixes up all bugs and current annoyances. Modders have already started fixing up the steep decline in challenge from mid CH2 onward.

Don't think they will get rid of the auto lunge attacks though sadly. I hope modders find a way to get rid of the finishers too.

 

[Salaadin]

I played a spellcasting build and honestly Quen just isn't that good. It makes the combat more forgiving because it lets you make mistakes, but if you just don't then it's kinda useless and your vigor is better spent elsewhere.

I did spellcasting and swordplay and found it to be my favorite. Mix and match swordplay with magic...its pretty damn good and fun. I hardly used Quen later on because I was able to trounce everything.

Couple of things.

Why do i die so ridiculously fast. I'm playing on normal and im lvl 7 currently. In the middle of the karyan quest and these drowners or whatever kill me in like 3 hits. It doesn't help that theres 4 or 5 of them at once and I can only block 3 times (3 vigor slots). Wtf is this?

Also what are good ways of making money and where can i get better weapons and items that can help me survive longer.

Also do you get any other spells later? I only have 6 signs at my disposal the ones from the start.

You start with 6 spells. Youll get a 7th much later on into the Magic tree if thats the way you go.

Early in the game, youll want to use Quen a lot to block damage. Upgrading it will cause it to last longer and deflect damage onto enemies.
Any +vigor spots on the tree are useful too as is the ability to damage multiple enemies with your sword. You should be able to put points into the other trees now.

My only hope for the combat is that CD Projekt RED fixes up all bugs and current annoyances. Modders have already started fixing up the steep decline in challenge from mid CH2 onward.

Don't think they will get rid of the auto lunge attacks though sadly. I hope modders find a way to get rid of the finishers too.

I think combat has already improved since 1.2. Hopefully it gets much better.

 

[Varna]

I think combat has already improved since 1.2. Hopefully it gets much better.

Hardly call nerfing the prologue an improvement.

 

[RedSwirl]

I had to give up on the Operator in Chapter 3. Almost got him one time. Is the only reward for going in there the ability to

Spoiler

respect Geralt

?

 

[Yurt]

Couple of things.

Why do i die so ridiculously fast. I'm playing on normal and im lvl 7 currently. In the middle of the karyan quest and these drowners or whatever kill me in like 3 hits. It doesn't help that theres 4 or 5 of them at once and I can only block 3 times (3 vigor slots). Wtf is this?

Watch your back. Literally. You get 200% more damage on your back.

 

[DualShadow]

I had to give up on the Operator in Chapter 3. Almost got him one time. Is the only reward for going in there the ability to

Spoiler

respect Geralt

?

I found him easy with a swordsman build with some points into magic.

 

[mileS]

When you hit left or right click at close range he'll make attacks at random, sometimes whiffing or being too slow even when another one of his attacks would have hit or been fast enough to land. Most action games allow you to precisely control your attacks with a branching tree system or being able to select any attack at any time, but not this one. And his lunge attack is incredibly annoying due to sticky autotargeting causing him to leap at an unintended target then getting surrounded and pummeled.

You can assign hotkeys to cast spells, not select them - there's only one keybind to select a spell and that's 'next sign'. Also, you couldn't assign keybinds to any key until 1.2. I am not overlooking anything. Figures there'd be a fanboy making an ass of himself within minutes of my post, though.

It's not like most "action" games. Maybe thats your problem. Are you using a 360pad? After 1.2, and you still have the same problems you explained, I'm guessing you didn't use the lock on correctly. Also if you spam light or heavy attack, you go through all the different animations anyway. If you point the camera towards a target most of the time you don't even need to use lock-on.

I'm just amazed you're upset with the quick menu. It slows down time, theres plenty to quickly pick what you want. I will admit on controller the quick menu isn't as good as it should be. No need to call me a fanboy when you're saying you think this game feels like it was designed for console.

 

[Salaadin]

Hardly call nerfing the prologue an improvement.

I was mostly referring to this:

-Lock on targets is not lost when the distance to targets increases.
-A number of fixes have been made in blocking functionality during combat. Also, player character responsiveness in combat has been improved, and Geralt can attack more than one target during normal combat.

 

[Minsc]

I stopped watching the video after he complained about Geralt not being able to block all the time.

Uhm...check your Vigor maybe ? OR update ?

It's not his style to figure stuff out. Just to make fun of poorly designed gaming elements, which 99% of games have in spades, TW2 no exception.

It was pretty funny, but I was a little disappointed with him drawing parallels to DA with the plot. I think The Witcher pulls off racism second to only the Dawn of War 40k games.

 

[Yurt]

It's not his style to figure stuff out. Just to make fun of poorly designed gaming elements, which 99% of games have in spades, TW2 no exception.

It was pretty funny, but I was a little disappointed with him drawing parallels to DA with the plot. I think The Witcher pulls off racism second to only the Dawn of War 40k games.

Yeah I agree.

Well I guess it's his job to troll

 

[Varna]

Anyone have experience with the better combat and CEO mod? Thinking about start a game with those. I'm not a fan of those type of difficulty mods that make the game harder by having every enemy be able to one-hit kill you though.

EDIT: When I had manually installed the 1.2 patch to the steam version the game seemed to load a lot faster. I thought this was due to the patch but once it hit steam it was the same as before... buying TW2 on steam, worst mistake ever.

 

[Zel3]

I updated the game to 1.2 and now the Downloadable Content section doesn't show up in the launcher.

Is this supposed to happen?

 

[Tokubetsu]

I updated the game to 1.2 and now the Downloadable Content section doesn't show up in the launcher.

Is this supposed to happen?

Yes.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

I updated the game to 1.2 and now the Downloadable Content section doesn't show up in the launcher.

Is this supposed to happen?

It's just called "content that you download" now, and we all get it automatically! So no more need for the menu option.

 

[Gvaz]

This game was great. Ran like complete crap on my system though.

I think I'll save a new playthrough for next year when I can get a better computer.

Probably my person GOTY.